Jeremy Clarkson swaps car for bicycle

I braved the rain this week to take part in Skyride 2011 – London’s annual traffic-free cycling jamboree.

It’s become a tradition for us to use the event as an excuse for fancy dress.

The irony of my Jeremy Clarkson outfit (on one of the very few days of the year when even hardened cyclists might be tempted to take the car) was not lost on fellow Skyriders.

When the decision was made to bring forward the date of this year’s Mayor of London Skyride by three weeks, it’s likely someone at the time suggested that the weather in early September was more likely to be fine. And so it was that for the first time in five years, the event was wet…very wet.

Numbers taking part in the event, which sees over 7 miles of central London roads closed to motorised traffic, have grown steadily each year culminating in the estimated 80,000 cyclists that took place in last year’s Skyride but by one o’clock, numbers had thinned out.

The weather in London is always going to make an event like this a gamble, but there is a simple way of ensuring that people who were looking forward to a ride on car-free (and dry) streets are not dissapointed – make the 7-mile route traffic-free every Sunday!